I'm willing to talk Jedi knight series and Moviebattles II all day my friend. I've been playing Jedi Knight series games since I was 8, starting with Dark forces II, then Jedi Outcast/Academy into Moviebattles II. Not rly a big fan of skype, prefer email or discord (We've got an MBII discord with a bunch of ppl on it).
I'll write a little blurp about MBII lightsaber combat which might be useful to you. Also, It's rly cool to see you giving this mod and Jedi Outcast/Academy the attention it deserves. I've been uploading MBII gameplay videos to youtube for our small community since 2013.
I think one of the essential things that were missing in Jedi knight Outcast/Academy lightsaber combat was a way to reliably block incoming lightsaber attacks with your own Lightsaber. It made the lightsaber feel less powerful because it didn't one hit kill you like you would expect. The major thing MBII brings to the table is Blocking points and a way to reliably block lightsaber attacks. This change results in far more 'starwars realistic' lightsaber combat, a back and forth dance, resource exhaustion and management, mechanical finesse and a super high skill ceiling. Also, lightsaber combat in MBII is, like the name of the mod implies, much more movie like and as a result of that, it feels damn cool aswell. There are so many intricacies present in MBII lightsaber combat, like timing, perfect blocking, disarming, acrobatics, dodging, comboing effectively, predicting the opponent aswell as the ACM mechanic which represents momentum in a duel and is part of resource management since it governs the damage you deal to your opponent. You get it by striking your opponents body more, and taking less swings from him aka perfect blocking his attacks more or dodging them. All of these things along with other details combine to make lightsaber combat in MBII a deep system with a high skill ceiling.
Below is a short video I took of actual gameplay, which serves to illustrate the point about MB2 lightsaber combat being more movie like and why MBII is an incredible star wars mod. Apologies in advance for video spam.
Here's what Lightsaber duels look like now.
As you can see, MBII lightsaber combat is defined by timing, intricate mechanical skill and the main feature of Blocking points/Blocking mechanics. It's a very different beast than Base jedi Academy, but it builds on the solid core of lightsaber combat that you described in your recent Lightsaber combat in games video (props to you for that one!). I'm always super happy when someone mentioned the Jedi knight series and promotes the games, cause it means more activity for us and this mod deserves more attention.
Here's an open mode video that reinforces the point of the first short clip. Latter half where there's 2v1 lightsaber fights etc.
I hope the above was useful to you. Always willing to talk/answer questions etc, but as I said, not a big fan of skype so I'd like to avoid it if possible. You can add me on steam and we can talk there, or come on the official MBII discord and we can PM back and forth there aswell. Or here on the forums?
-SeV
